These sins lie deep with us and infect our purity, our character, our relationship with God and our relations with one another. These sins lead to other sins and they must be dealt with. A root canal may be painful and long, but sometimes it is necessary. That’s the same with our lives, if we as a church want to live healthy, growing and godly lives; we need to remove the root of our problems.

Each of us needs to honestly look at ourselves and ask God to reveal these sins to us and to cleanse us of them. Then according to God’s promise, we will be purified (1 John 1:9-If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9-If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness).

Tonight we begin by looking at price – perhaps the deadliest of all sins. We first consider examples of pride in the Bible.

1. We go back to the time when the people of Israel were held captive in Babylon. We begin with King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. In Daniel 3 we read that he made an image of gold 90 feet high. The image was probably of the god Nabu, but the name of this god also formed the first part of Nebuchadnezzar’s name.

2. It is the people building the tower of Babel to reach the heavens so they could make a name for themselves.

Price is when we start thinking of ourselves. When we think we are what is most important. It is the “I” disease. It makes us think that we are more important than God. It makes us think the things we have accomplished or accumulated are due to our own power and abilities rather than God. It is making ourselves sovereign over our lives rather than acknowledging God’s sovereignty. It is making ourselves to be God and thereby breaking the command not to “make any gods before me”.

Many of us are insecure and we could say we feel bad about ourselves. This is a form of pride. To be insecure is to focus on self, focusing on your own weaknesses rather than on the strength of God.

Pride leads to other sins. In Daniel, we read how Nebuchadnezzar’s pride gave him the right to kill others and do whatever he wanted. He only had to answer to himself.

We see how powerful pride is. It is a sin that is hard to get rid of. Even though Nebuchadnezzar saw the power of God in the fiery furnace and praised His name, he again was infected by pride. That is why God drove him away for seven years. It took seven years before his pride was broken, seven years of living as a wild animal when he could have been on his throne. The infection of pride is so deep and bad it is hard to remove.

Pride is based on a falsehood. It places us above that which we can safely stand. The taller we are, the more easily we are toppled by the winds of life. We may feel secure but sooner or later the bubble will break.

The result of pride is the fall

Proverbs 18:12 Before his downfall, a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor

Isaiah 2:11 The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the Lord along will be exalted in that day.

We see it with Nebuchadnezzar losing his kingdom. We see it as Satan was expelled from heaven and as Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden. We see it as God scatters those who would build a tower to heaven. We see it throughout God’s word and we see it in our lives.

Pride is horrible. It separates us from God.

To come to God in the first place and to repent means that we must be humble. First to admit our sins. Pride prevents us from seeing any wrong in ourselves. That stops us from asking Christ to be our Saviour – as if we don’t need Him.

We need to admit that we cannot save ourselves, but only God can. To admit that God is sovereign and not us. It is hard to ask for help when we think “I can do it myself”.

We need to give the control of our lives to God. Pride says “don’t, you can do a better job at it”.

Even after we humble ourselves and repent, pride comes back. Even though we have acknowledged the need for God, we take problems back and try to solve them on our own. We waste time trying to solve them on our own; we waste time trying to give glory to self rather than to God. We receive blessings from God and then claim credit for them ourselves.

We see this with Satan (Ezekiel 28:14-17). “You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings”.

All this separates us from God. How is pride hurting your relationship with God? Has it stopped you from putting your life in His hands? Does it stop you from spending time with Him?

Pride is what hurts us in our relationships in church, in families and with friends. Pride makes us stubborn “I’m right, she’s wrong”. It stops us from forgiving. Pride makes us put up false fronts “I’m not letting anyone else know my sins and weaknesses”. It creates walls of pretension. Pride makes us try to show we are better. Pride makes us think we are better or know more than the other person. We become proud of what we do.

Pride makes you work for salvation rather than to receive it freely. It removes the grace of God from us and makes us less gracious towards others. We become more judgmental. Pride makes us put others down.

Pride. How is it affecting you? Are you afraid to serve because you may fail? Are you afraid to share faith because of what others will think? Are you afraid to pray out load because of you might sun? Are you afraid to reach out to someone because they might reject you? Are you afraid to be vulnerable because you might get hurt?

If you answered any of these with a yes, the problem is one of pride – of placing more importance on self than on God.

How is pride affecting you? Is it stopping you from growing spiritually? Is it stopping you from being a church that God wants to use?

A root canal is needed to remove pride. A long, hard, painful process, but it is necessary.

Start now by confessing your pride to God and to one another. It is humbling to do so.